Move-ins and move-outs

A property changes hands. The previous owner moved out, the new owner is moving in. The property itself doesn’t change - same address, same lot, same balance - but every resident attached to it changes. This article is the playbook.

The principle to keep in mind

The property is the unit of record. The new owner inherits the property’s state - balance, history, ledger - unless you explicitly settle it as part of the closing. Don’t delete the property and recreate it. You’d lose the audit trail, and the new owner would lose visibility into anything the previous owner left behind.

The flow residents can start themselves

If the buyer signs up before you’ve done anything, they’ll find the address already claimed. They can tap I’m purchasing this home, which notifies the current owner. When the seller confirms the sale in their app, HomeHerald moves the seller out of the home and the buyer claims it. You still settle the balance (step 1 below) - the property’s balance does not reset when the owner changes.

Move-out flow (previous owner leaves)

Do these in order. Most are quick.

1. Settle the balance

Before anything else, decide what happens to the outstanding balance:

• Closing settled it - the seller paid it off as part of the closing. Mark the property’s balance as $0 by recording the payment.
• Buyer assumed it - the new owner took on the balance at closing (sometimes done as a price adjustment). Leave the balance in place; the new owner will see it when they sign up.
• Board agreed to write it off - rare, but happens for hardship or legal reasons. Add a credit transaction equal to the outstanding balance.

Whichever route, the answer should be a transaction in the ledger, not a manual balance edit. See How the ledger works.

2. Capture move-out details

Open the property, click Notes & history, and add a board note: closing date, who the seller was, who the buyer is, anything odd about the transition. Notes are permanent and signed, so the next board can still read it in two years.

3. Move the previous owner out

Pick what fits:

• They’re leaving the community - open them in Members and click Move Out User. Their status becomes Moved Out, they’re unlinked from the home, and if they were the primary, the home’s co-residents are unlinked with them. AutoPay they had set up on the home ends. Their record (and history) stays, under Former Members.
• They’re moving to another unit in the community - open them in Members and search for the new address in the Property Link card. That moves their link.

Only the person themselves can delete their account (from their own profile), so there’s no delete step here.

If the seller confirmed the sale themselves through I’m purchasing this home, they’ve already been moved out of the home.

4. Decide on dues for the transition month

Two patterns are common:

• Don’t prorate. The property is billed the full amount on the due date, and the closing sorts out who pays it. Simpler.
• Prorate. Manually adjust the next dues charge to split the month between seller and buyer. More work; check your bylaws on whether this is required.

If you prorate, do it as two transactions: a credit to reduce the standard dues for the property, then later a charge to the new owner for their portion (or just record it in the closing docs and skip the system entry).

Move-in flow (new owner arrives)

1. Decide how the new owner gets access

You have two options for getting the new owner into the system:

Option A: Put them on file. Add them under Residents & contacts on the property (Modify > Add resident) with their email or phone. When they sign up with the join code and pick this property, the record connects to their account.

Option B: Direct invite. Leave Send invite now checked when you add them. They get their own link (by email, or by text if there’s no email) that claims this property for them. Use this if you want it locked down (no risk of them picking the wrong property).

Either way, once the previous owner is moved out, the home is unclaimed and the buyer becomes its primary resident when they claim it.

2. Confirm the property’s state on their first login

When the new owner first logs in, they’ll see:

• Their property’s balance (whatever you settled to in the move-out flow)
• The property’s request/violation history (typically a non-issue, but be aware)
• The property’s ledger (transactions visible to residents)

If anything looks wrong, fix it now - the longer you wait, the more confusing it gets.

3. Welcome them properly

This isn’t a system step, but it matters for adoption: send a welcome announcement (or a 1:1 message) covering:

• Their property’s dues schedule and amount
• Where to pay online
• How to submit requests / book amenities
• Who their board contacts are
• Any community-specific quirks (parking rules, pool hours, etc.)

Some boards keep a written welcome message they reuse for new owners.

A worked example

Lot 17 - sold March 15, closing settled the $400 outstanding balance.

Move-out (March 15):

1. Record a $400 payment on Lot 17 (memo: “Closing settlement, [seller name] → [buyer name]”)
2. Add a board note from Notes & history: “Sold to [buyer], closed 3/15/2026”
3. Move Out User on the seller (they’re leaving the community) - this also unlinks the seller’s spouse, who was a co-resident
4. Move Out User on the spouse too, so their account is closed out the same way

Move-in (March 16):

5. Add the buyer to the property under Residents & contacts with Send invite now checked
6. Buyer taps the link, becomes primary resident
7. Buyer invites their spouse from My Home; the spouse signs up and joins as co-resident
8. April 1 dues post $200 to Lot 17 - buyer’s first charge

Total time: maybe 10 minutes. Audit trail intact for the entire history of the property.

Edge cases

”The previous owner’s payment cleared after they moved out”

Happens - mailed checks, ACH lag. Record the payment normally; it posts to the property’s ledger, like every payment. If that creates a credit you owe back to the seller, settle it as a refund.

”The property is being held empty before the new owner moves in”

Move the old owner out. The property’s status will read Unclaimed until a new resident is linked - Unclaimed means no resident account has claimed the property in HomeHerald, whether or not anyone is living there. Dues keep billing. If you want reminders to stop in the meantime, Pause the property in the Dues Chaser and Resume it when the new owner arrives.

”The HOA bought back the property” (foreclosure, etc.)

The HOA itself is now the “owner.” Don’t link a resident. If you want to stop charges during the period, open Modify and uncheck the property’s assessments (an assessment applied to all properties keeps billing; credit it back if needed). The board manages it as a special case until it’s sold to a new resident.

”The new owner is a corporation / LLC, not a person”

Link the manager or registered agent’s email as the primary. The system doesn’t model entities separately from people, so the human contact is what gets the account. Add a board note from Notes & history recording that the “real” owner is the entity.

”The previous owner won’t give up access”

If they’re refusing to leave the community in some interpersonal sense, that’s not a software problem. From the system perspective, use Move Out User - they lose the home and the community. A moved-out person can rejoin the community with the join code (as a member with no home). If they shouldn’t be able to come back at all, use Ban from Community instead, which blocks them from rejoining.

Where to go next

• Linking residents to a property - the linking mechanics in detail
• How the ledger works - settling balances at closing
• Property statuses - what each status means